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North Korea upset by flag confusion

Rory Smith

July 25 2012, 10:27pm, The Times

North Korea officials react to seeing a South Korean flag before their match against ColombiaGRAHAM STUART

The second match in group G of the women’s football tournament started in spectacularly embarrassing fashion after a technical glitch led to the South Korean flag being displayed before the North Korean women’s football team played their opening fixture in Glasgow.

Just two hours after Team GB’s women beat New Zealand in Cardiff, the North Korean players refused to start their match against Colombia at Hampden Park at the appointed time after noticing that video screens were displaying the South Korean flag rather than their own.

Officials in Glasgow persuaded them to return by displaying full-screen shots of the appropriate flag on both video screens and the match eventually kicked off, more than an hour behind schedule, at 8.50pm.